tHe SoULs of bLAck foLKs

As we come to the conclusion of this work there is a recurrence of the veil. Every chapter I have read the veil is always mentioned. Du Bois also makes references to the experience of "double-consciousness, this sense of always looking at one's self through the eyes of others." This is the concept of dual identity in which throughout the text it is important for Du Bois's goal in making the African-American condition understood. Du Bois contends that African Americans experience a split in self-concept because they are regarded with "contempt and pity" by the majority of their fellow Americans. This ties into the Veil as it is one of the sybols used to help get the condition of black folks understood by American whites. “The veil is hung between us and opportunity” As both black and American, black people are organized into public and private identities, neither regarded as whole by mainstream, white America. He talks about how every African American belongs or goes to a church in some way. It is part of their identity and what it means to be an African American.

Souls of Black Folks

W.E.B. Dubois narrates "The Souls of Black Folks" consistently repeats the symbol of the veil throughout this collection of essays. I believe that this veil is representative of racism and what it means to be black. "shut out from their world by a vast veil. I had thereafter no desire to tear down that veil, to creep through; I held all beyond it in common contempt, and lived above it in a region of blue sky and great wandering shadows" I think that the veil is racism and being black. He can not take off this veil either physically, this is before the time of Michael Jackson, or symbolically, since this is deep in the south during the antebellum period where blacks were still regarded as laves.
Dubois then details all of the problems that the African Americans face. He talks about the KKKlan and other sources of oppression. He later talks about B.T.Washington, who we just read "Up From Slavery". He describes him as "The most striking thing in history of the American Negro".

B.T.Washington

For todays class we had to start Booker T. Washington's "Up From Slavery". The story narrates the life of the author from the time of his birth. He was born into slavery in West Virginia. What i found most interesting of his childhood is the overall attitudes that the slaves had for their masters. In his instance it was not out of hate and despise but respect. For example, during the Civil War, when one of his masters was injured from battle, the slave population would be honored to stand at his bedside and care for him. It was also stated that since there was no man in the house, a slave was given the position to defend the household and would sacrifice his life if necessary. These statements voided all previous conceptions i had of slavery. There was no mention of runaway slaves and bitter hatred of their masters.
The story than goes into detail of the coming to an end of slavery. The family moved to a salt producing town in West Virginia. Here Booker worked at first in a salt mine and later in a coal mine. He started his first schooling by taking night classes and started a collection of books. He overheard of a college for negros in Hampton Virginia. At that point he set that as his main goal in life to get an education there. I found it interesting that he never really experienced segregation and racism until he left the salt town to pursue his college education. The salt town was mixed white and black but i guess the whites of the town were so uneducated that they were not any racially superior to the blacks. When he traveled to Hampton, he was refused recommendations at a hotel because he was black.
When he finally arrived after a 500 mile journey, he went strait to the head teacher to gain admittance into class. She ignored him at first but eventually gave him the task of cleaning a recitation room. Basically he got into college because he was good at cleaning... his exam was to clean a room. After that he was given position of janitor to pay for his room and schooling.

The Diary of a Shirtwaist Striker

I have found this diary to be pretty monotonous. The author Theresa Serber Malakiel dedicates this text to the Shirtwaist workers and the strikers that have suffered discrimination and poor working and living conditions due to factory labor. The narrator of the storry is a young women arround the age of twenty. Actually for her time that age is pretty old for a women who works in a factory because they usually work from the age of thirteenish and are expected to marry off by their twenties. The narrator again is a Christian worker who admires the majority of jewish workers for there willingness to rebel. In the beginning of the novel she is afraid to work out on the streets. She has a close relationship with Jim who she plans to marry. However, as she gets more involved with the strike, her Jim fears her rebellious nature and ask her to stop or he will not marry her. She is taken back by his anger and ignorance towards their cause. She hates the fact that he has the old way of thinking of a submissive women. She finds him quite contradictory because he believes in the revolution of workers rights just not in the case for women. I think it is interesting how once someone is in a mindset it is near impossible to get them out of it and change their ways of thinking. I feel that as the narrator gets more into the striking business, she will sacrifice her family and her relationship with Jim. She admires in the beginning how the jewish women will go hungry for their rights and i feel that her sacrifice will be such.

Phobia of Technology

The reading due today for class made me reminiscent of a few movies that we saw in English class last year. We were shown the movie version of "1984" and "The Island". Both of these movies dealt with a controlled society. In "The Island", advancements in cloning technology lead to a company that clones people to harvest there body parts and vital organs for people that are terminally ill. The company found that having these clones in a conscious living state led to healthier body parts. When two of the clones escape, all hell brakes loose as the companies practices are exposed. 1984 is the story of totalitarian society and how all aspects of life are controlled and closely regulated.
The passage also has a writeup on "Blade Runner" which we had just seen the week before. It describes the role of opposite ideals that play a part in the plot of the story. For example the human - artificial copy relation ship shows the posing of nature as an opposite to a negative technological civilization. The passage also brings up some really interesting relationships and symbols that i did not recognize or understand in the movie. Most notably was the final fight scene between Roy and Harrison Ford where Roy morphs from this attacking animalistic figure into a compassionate human full of forgiveness. He saves Ford and then releasing a dove dies. The passage goes far enough to describe him as a Christ like figure.

Life in the Iron-Mills

This is a rather depressing story of the life of Iron peddlers in the mid eighteenth century. Wolfe, who is Welsh, is the center of attention for the novel. He is described as a thin ghastly, and very feminine man. He is young and rather unpopular among his co workers since he has been slightly educated and has a hobby for creating sculpture. Deborah is also a main character in the story. She is a disfigured hunchback that is in love with Wolfe. She brings food to him every night as a token of her love. Wolfe is disgusted by her physical qualities yet never the less treats her kindly.
One Saturday night, just before his shift is over, a small group of educated men take shelter from the pelting rain in his work station. As he is closing up, they notice his sculpture of a naked muscular working women. When they inquire to the name of it, he replies Hunger. This puzzles the group and they discuss his work and potential for factory workers with"souls".
Wolfe recognizes the group as being a the overseer, Clarke,Kirby, one of the mill owners, and one of the local physicians May. There are two he does not recognize but is completely fascinated with. One appears to be a newspaper report and more notably is Michell. For some reason Wolfe can not keep his eyes of Michell. He must study him to see how a man of a nobler class and stature could be different from himself. HE feels hopeless and realizes that he could never get out of his condition. When they do ask him about his statue, the tiniest hint hope to get out begins to form.
I find this story so far to be really depressing in the condition of the mills in which the story takes place. I'm sure that the book is targeted to aid in the reformation movement and working class rights and eventually labor unions. The first part of the book told a history of the author and the time period to help us understand the context of what the book was written under. The author grew up in close proximity and first hand could describe these conditions so they are pretty accurate.

The Industrial Revloution and the Impact of Rail Roads on Early America

I found the Stowell paper to be very interesting in the way it portrayed American life in the eighteen hundreds. During the antebellum period in our history, America became increasingly industrial. The paper gave statistical figures from an industrial census that showed how much certain American towns expanded during the revolution. I found it interesting how Buffalo, Albany, and Syracuse were some ranked as some of the biggest cities in America during this time. When rail road technology began to appear in America, the public feared how it would impact their life. at first they were awed st the sight of these massive new marvels of technology. However, they quickly became a nuisance. Property owners did not want trains running through the main streets of towns in front of there houses. They noise was bearable at first as only a two or three trains would run through a day. However, when second lines were added to improve train traffic flow, trains were running through on eleven minute intervals in some towns. Another strange statistic that Stowell brought up was the death toll caused by the train. It seemed so unreasonable that Americans were this stupid that they could be killed in such numbers by trains. the figures stated that people were trying to jump trains which was apparently popular among young men of the time and would get killed when they missed and got ran over. Also people standing on the tracts for some reason could not hear the massive ton'age of metal coming and get destroyed. It is amazing how many people died and all of the injuries that occurred. Then it went into indirect deaths such as the boy who tried to cross the tracks in his laden wagon and the jolt or going over the tracks sent him head over heals in front of his own cart which quickly reduced him to a memory. What is seriously wrong with Americans of this time? I do agree with separating tracks from main city centers because they are definitely a noise nuisance.